Human-scale 3D videoconferencing pod invented by Queen's University researchers

A Queen's University Kingston researcher has created a star-trek-like human-scale 3D videoconferencing pod that allows people in different locations to video conference as if they are standing in front of each other. The technology researchers at the Queen's Human Media Lab have developed is called telehuman. Two people simply stand in front of their own life-size cylindrical pods and talk to 3D hologram-like images of each other. Cameras capture and track 3D video and convert it into the life-size surround image. Since the 3D video image is visible 360 degrees around the pod, the person can walk around it to see the other person’s side or back. The team used mostly existing hardware, including an array of microsoft kinect sensors, a 3D projector, a 1.8 meter-tall translucent acrylic cylinder and a convex mirror. They also used the same pod to create another application called bodipod, which presents an interactive 3D anatomy model of the human body.